Settings

Settings are split across the same tabs you see in the app. Most libraries work well with the defaults. Change settings when you have a reason, not because the app offers a knob.

Before changing defaults

Leave most defaults alone for your first pass through a library.
Use the grid to narrow the queue before changing review behavior.
Touch duplicate settings only when the match quality is clearly too noisy or too strict.
Treat cache and processing settings as library-scale controls, not per-session tweaks.

Change one thing at a time, then rescan or rerun the affected workflow. That makes it obvious which setting actually helped.

Save or discard changes

Settings are edited in a local draft until you choose Save Preferences. Closing with the X discards unsaved edits. After saving:

Theme, interface visibility, card layout, feature toggles, keybindings, mute state, keeper ranking, and protection rules update immediately.
Cache, scan, thumbnail, metadata, and duplicate-matching changes apply when their next relevant scan or processing run starts.
Increasing the thumbnail count can prompt you to confirm that existing cached strips need rebuilding.
Changing cache storage starts a migration choice before the preference is committed.
In the direct-download edition, changing automatic update checks may require an app restart before startup behavior changes.

VideoCull blocks saving while configurable shortcut conflicts remain. The conflicting keybind fields identify what must be changed.

Interface

These settings change how the main view starts and how you move through a session.

Setting	What it does	Suggested default use
Theme	Switches the app chrome between Dark and Light mode while keeping video and thumbnail wells neutral.	Use Dark in dim environments and Light when the surrounding room or display is bright.
Default card scale	Sets the starting card size in grid view.	Leave it at `1.0x` unless your monitor or footage needs more or less detail.
Default sorting	Controls the first sort field and order for new sessions.	`Name` is the safest default. Use `Date` for chronology, `Size` for storage cleanup, or `Duration` for spotting clips that are too short or too long.
Group by folder	Starts the grid grouped by folder instead of one flat list.	Keep it on when folder context matters. Turn it off when you want one global queue.
Keep playback controls visible in Review	Prevents the timeline and playback controls from auto-hiding while a video is playing in Review mode.	Leave it off for a cleaner playback view. Turn it on when you want the scrubber to remain available without moving the mouse.
Export report	Exports an HTML report for all loaded videos or the current filtered set, grouped by folder and review status.	Use it at the end of a pass or before a destructive cleanup. Export never changes statuses or files.

The sun or moon button switches theme immediately and saves the choice. It is available on the landing screen and in the sidebar header. You can also use the configurable theme shortcut, which defaults to Ctrl + Shift + L. The Theme selector in Settings follows the normal draft behavior and changes the interface only after you choose Save Preferences.

Features

This tab contains optional metadata controls. Core status, playback, compatibility, codec badges, global mute, and next-undecided behavior remain part of the normal app workflow.

Setting	What it does	Suggested default use
5-star rating	Shows rating controls on video cards and in review mode.	Turn it on only if you actually rate clips.
Favorites	Shows the heart toggle and favorites filter.	Turn it on when you need a shortlist across a large session.

Duplicates

Duplicate detection is best treated as a suggestion engine, not an auto-delete system.

Matching

Setting	What it does	Suggested default use
Enable duplicate detection	Turns on duplicate finding and stores duplicate cache data.	Leave it on if duplicates are a normal part of your workflow.
Run after each scan	Starts duplicate detection after scanning.	Leave this off unless duplicates are the main job.
Similarity	Sets the minimum score needed to group videos as duplicates. A group’s displayed score is its weakest match, so every result meets this value.	Start around `90-95%`. Raise it when results are noisy. Lower it when real duplicates are being missed.
Sample count	Controls how many sampled frames are compared.	Keep the default unless false positives justify the extra time.
Comparison method	Switches between `pHash` and `Visual similarity`.	Start with `pHash`, the default, which produces few false positives. Try visual similarity when known alternate encodes are missed.
Default scope	Chooses between all loaded videos or the current filtered view.	Use the filtered view when you want tighter, more deliberate duplicate passes.
Protect marked keep videos	Stops already-kept videos from becoming delete suggestions.	Leave it on.
Protect skipped videos	Leaves skipped videos out of automatic delete suggestions.	Leave it off when Skip means undecided and should still compete. Turn it on when skipped clips must never be suggested for deletion.

Keeper suggestions

Suggested keeper priority decides which file is preferred inside a duplicate group.

Resolution
Video bitrate
Duration
FPS
File size

Higher items decide first. Reset the order unless you have a strong reason to prefer a different kind of source file.

Ignored matches

Pairs marked Not a match stay hidden in future duplicate runs.

Leave ignored matches alone if the rule was correct.
Clear them only after you change matching behavior enough that old ignores are no longer trustworthy.

Advanced duplicate settings

Setting	What it does	Suggested default use
Sampling window	Chooses which part of each video gets sampled.	Leave it on evenly spaced. Move inward only when intros, outros, or watermarks are skewing results.
Duration tolerance	Limits how much two durations may differ and still be compared.	Raise it only when alternate encodes differ slightly in runtime.
Max sampling duration	Caps how much of a long video is sampled. `0` means full length.	Leave it at the default unless very long videos make runs too expensive.
Checkpoint interval	Controls how often long runs save progress.	Change it only for very large duplicate passes.
Require every sample to meet similarity	Makes every sampled frame pass and scores each match by its weakest frame. When off, matches are scored and tested by the average.	Leave the default on for stricter groups. Turn it off only when alternate encodes are being missed because one sample differs.
Ignore black pixels	Helps with fades, black frames, and letterboxing.	Use it when dark frames create false mismatches.
Ignore white pixels	Helps with bright flashes and white frames.	Use it only when bright frames are obviously skewing results.
Compare flipped videos	Also checks horizontally mirrored copies.	Turn it on only when mirrored duplicates are a real possibility.
Retry failed fingerprints	Retries videos that failed before.	Turn it on when a previous run hit processing failures.

Cache

Cache settings decide where progress lives and how aggressively old data is cleaned up.

Setting	What it does	Suggested default use
Cache storage	Chooses `Centralised`, `Per-drive`, or `Distributed`.	Use `Centralised` unless you need the cache to travel with a drive or folder.
Central cache location	Picks the app-controlled cache folder.	Leave it at the default unless the current drive is a bad fit.
Per-drive cache location	Picks a cache folder for the currently opened drive.	Use this only when you deliberately want separate per-drive roots.
Auto-clean stale cache after scans	Removes stale cache rows, thumbnail folders, and child-folder cache entries that no longer exist on disk.	Leave it off unless you want ongoing housekeeping.
Remove empty source folders after delete	Removes parent folders that become empty after deleting videos.	Leave it off unless folder cleanup is part of the job.

Distributed mode creates a hidden .videocull folder inside each loaded folder. It is useful for portable libraries, but noisier than centralized cache. For migration choices, rebuild behavior, and the difference between cache modes, see Cache and processing.

Processing

Processing settings affect future scans, thumbnail runs, and metadata work. They do not retroactively rebuild current thumbnails until you rescan or regenerate them.

Setting	What it does	Suggested default use
Thumbnails per video	Chooses `1`, `2`, `4`, `6`, or `9` frames per video.	`6` is a good default. Raise it only when the strip is not giving enough context.
Skip intro blackframes (delay)	Delays the first thumbnail to avoid fade-ins or blank starts.	Keep the default `3s` unless your clips start cleanly or need a longer skip.
Parallel FFmpeg processes	Caps how many FFmpeg jobs run at once, or uses auto mode.	Leave it on `Auto` unless the machine becomes unresponsive.
Limit each FFmpeg process to 1 CPU thread	Uses more small FFmpeg processes instead of fewer multi-threaded ones.	Leave it on. The app marks it as recommended for a reason.
Enable hardware acceleration (beta)	Tries to route decoding through the GPU.	Leave it off unless CPU decode is the bottleneck and your footage behaves well with it.
Keep the PC awake while processing	Stops Windows from going to sleep on its own while folders are scanned, video info and thumbnails are generated, or duplicates are fingerprinted. Choosing Sleep yourself still works, the screen can still turn off, and paused processing does not keep the PC awake.	Leave it on, especially for long runs on large folders.

Keybindings

Keybindings are for review-mode and preview behavior, not for system-level app actions.

Review mode, Preview, and Global shortcuts are grouped separately.
Click a keybind field to record a new shortcut.
Esc cancels recording.
Reset defaults restores the built-in review bindings.

System shortcuts like Ctrl+O, F5, Ctrl+Backspace, and Shift+Esc are fixed and are not rebound here. If two configurable keybinds conflict, fix the conflict before saving.

Updates

The Updates tab reflects how your edition is distributed.

Microsoft Store edition

The tab shows the installed version and confirms that updates are managed and installed by Microsoft Store. GitHub update controls and the automatic-update setting are not shown.

Direct-download edition

Setting	What it does	Suggested default use
Check for updates	Manually checks for a new release.	Use it when you want to pull a release now instead of waiting.
Automatically check for updates on startup	Checks at launch and downloads in the background.	Leave it on unless you want fully manual update control.

The direct-download edition always notifies you before anything installs. When an update is ready, choose one of these actions:

Update now closes VideoCull, installs the update, and opens the updated version.
Install on exit keeps the app open and installs only when you later close it.
Ask me later dismisses the prompt for the current session and asks again after the next launch.

About

The About tab shows the current version, project and support links, and the license:

VideoCull Support, GitHub repository, and Releases / changelog
GitHub Sponsors and PayPal
License: VideoCull is free software under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0, without any warranty.
- View license opens the full license text that ships with the app.
- Third-party notices opens the licenses of the bundled components, such as FFmpeg and the libraries VideoCull is built with.
- Source code for this version opens the source code of the exact version you are running on GitHub.

Getting started

Features

Reference

Help

Before changing defaults

Save or discard changes

Interface

Features

Duplicates

Matching

Keeper suggestions

Ignored matches

Advanced duplicate settings

Cache

Processing

Keybindings

Updates

Microsoft Store edition

Direct-download edition

About

​Before changing defaults

​Save or discard changes

​Interface

​Features

​Duplicates

​Matching

​Keeper suggestions

​Ignored matches

​Advanced duplicate settings

​Cache

​Processing

​Keybindings

​Updates

​Microsoft Store edition

​Direct-download edition

​About

Before changing defaults

Save or discard changes

Interface

Features

Duplicates

Matching

Keeper suggestions

Ignored matches

Advanced duplicate settings

Cache

Processing

Keybindings

Updates

Microsoft Store edition

Direct-download edition

About